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octothorp · 08-29-2007, 08:22 AM

I'm hoping to tap into CP's sports injury knowledge, which seems to be pretty substantial. Last night I did something to my knee playing softball. It's the second time this year that I've injured it, and both injuries were identical: it happened while I was batting, as I plant my rear foot and spin. There`s an audible pop, and then a tremendous pain in my knee and I end up dropping to the ground. I can`t put any pressure on it immediately, but within a couple innings I mostly fine, and it ends up being stiff and sore in the mornings for the next couple days. So right now it`s nothing more than an annoyance and inconvenience, but I don`t want it to get worse or more frequent. Prior to this year, I`ve never had any problem with my knees, and I would guess that aging plays a role in all this.

Should I look at getting a knee brace? It seems that what is causing these injuries is the combination of putting a lot of weight on my knee while I'm twisting it (in part because of the big pits in the batter's box). Will the right knee brace actually prevent this sort of injury, or help me recover faster after such an injury? It's also been suggested to me that wearing a knee-brace all the time will actually weaken the muscles in my knee and cause me to become dependent on it. Would it make sense to wear the brace just when I'm batting? What exercises should I be doing to build up strength in my knee?

08-29-2007, 08:22 AM	#1
octothorp Franchise Player Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: not lurking Exp:	knee injuries and braces I'm hoping to tap into CP's sports injury knowledge, which seems to be pretty substantial. Last night I did something to my knee playing softball. It's the second time this year that I've injured it, and both injuries were identical: it happened while I was batting, as I plant my rear foot and spin. There`s an audible pop, and then a tremendous pain in my knee and I end up dropping to the ground. I can`t put any pressure on it immediately, but within a couple innings I mostly fine, and it ends up being stiff and sore in the mornings for the next couple days. So right now it`s nothing more than an annoyance and inconvenience, but I don`t want it to get worse or more frequent. Prior to this year, I`ve never had any problem with my knees, and I would guess that aging plays a role in all this. Should I look at getting a knee brace? It seems that what is causing these injuries is the combination of putting a lot of weight on my knee while I'm twisting it (in part because of the big pits in the batter's box). Will the right knee brace actually prevent this sort of injury, or help me recover faster after such an injury? It's also been suggested to me that wearing a knee-brace all the time will actually weaken the muscles in my knee and cause me to become dependent on it. Would it make sense to wear the brace just when I'm batting? What exercises should I be doing to build up strength in my knee?